Impact on Student Well-being

Since 2011, SFU Health Promotion has been working with partners across SFU to create settings that enhance student mental health, well-being and health equity.  

Key Impacts on Students and Learning Environments:

In partnership with the Centre for Educational Excellence we have built a network of over 300 faculty champions who are engaging in well-being in learning environments programming to positively impacting student well-being. 

• Approximately 29% of faculty, instructors, and instructional staff at SFU are involved in Well-being in Learning Environments
• Student respondents in classes taught by faculty in the Tools for Well-being in the Classroom program reported higher mental health at the end of term (Fall 2021)  as compared to data collected at SFU during the same period by the Student e-Mental Health Project (Mental Health Systems and Services Lab at UBC)
• In comparison to UGSS data during the same semester, students in courses taught by faculty in the Tools for Well-being in the Classroom program reported improved social connection, flexibility, and a sense of care from instructors.
• 90.3% of students reported they experienced welcoming, respectful and inclusive learning environments through this initiative. 
• 86% of students in this initiative reported they felt their instructor cared about their well-being as opposed to 70% on the UGSS in 2020.
• Trends over time in the UGSS data show that students are increasingly reporting positive well-being in learning environments across SFU. 
• It is estimated that approximately 7000 students are reached annually by Well-being in Learning Environments programming. 

Read about more faculty and student testimonials and learn more about well-being in learning environments

Partnership Development for Well-being in Learning Environments:

In partnership with the Transforming Inquiry into Learning & Teaching team, the SFU Health Promotion team co-led the inaugural Well-being in Learning Environments Seminar Series and Grants program, a new Teaching and Learning Development Grant, showing the impact of instructors embedding conditions of well-being into learning environments on student learning and experience. 

As a result, from early research outcomes, Tools for Well-being in the Classroom was launched, in partnership with TILT and with support from a faculty advisory committee. The program offers well-being check-ins and other tools for faculty to embed well-being within academic learning environments. Over 350 faculty and teaching staff have attended 19 events/sessions and/or joined the network and made use of resources related to well-being in learning environments.  

Key growth over the years

Since 2015, two evidence informed and open access resources developed by SFU Health Promotion have been used to inform  policies and physical spaces that enhance student well-being at SFU. Examples of spaces across SFU’s three campuses that have been developed in collaboration with these resources include:

• The Student Union Building (SUB)
• Public lounges in the Academic Quadrangle, Applied Sciences Building, Blusson Hall, Maggie Benston Centre, Saywell Hall Atrium, Shrum K. building and South Science Building
• The Learning Hub (EDB 8620) 
• Faculty of Health Sciences Student Lounge
• Dining Hall and Residence and Housing Expansion
• Lounge spaces and the Wellness Studio at SFU Vancouver
• SFU Burnaby 2065 Campus Master Plan

Partnerships with academic units like Applied Sciences have led to improvements in relation to the following strategic objectives:

• Reducing undue stress through policy 
• Fostering a supportive and inclusive environment
• Increasing student mental health awareness 
• Increasing community capacity for responding to mental health and well-being
• Expanding accessible mental health services 

Health equity is a crucial part of student well-being and our team values intentional and relational practices to support equity-deserving students’ experiences on campus. Examples of work we are doing to enact and prioritize our principles related to equity and justice include:  

• The recent development of a well-being strategy for Black students at SFU in collaboration with partners on campus, in support of the anticipated Black Students’ Centre.  
• A Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) dialogue sessions on student mental health, which resulted in recommendations that informed SFU’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Report.

Learn more about how policy connects with well-being, and other student initiatives that SHAC advocates for.

Approximately 3000 graduate and undergraduate students have been reached annually through presentations, training programs and outreach events.

Over 300 students are enrolled in the Bouncing Forward Online Resilience Training 

• 93% of students who completed the training would recommend it to a friend

Over 150 graduate students are enrolled in the online training related to graduate student well-being.

• 89% of students who completed the Bouncing Forward Resilience Training for Graduate Students would recommend it to a friend.

• 94% of students who completed the Thriving in your Role as a TA Training said they plan to “apply one or more strategies from the Well-Being in Learning Environments in my tutorial, class, course, or lab.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, approximately 50 presentations were facilitated for graduate and undergraduate students on well-being.

In October 2022, SFU Health Promotion commemorated World Mental Health Week through weeklong events hosted across SFU Burnaby and Surrey campuses in partnership with Student Engagement and Retention, Women’s Centre, Indigenous Students Centre, Counselling Services, SFU Recreation and the SFU Health Peers. This inaugural event invited students to explore their well-being as it related to topics of mental, physical, and sexual health, and substance use and harm reduction.

Each year 15-20 Health Peers are trained to provide approximately 50 outreach events per year and reach students through in person and online programming.  

Learn more about mental health and well-being education and training opportunities.